No Rubles at American Banks?

[prince_alfie]

I tried to exchange dollars for rubles at Wells Fargo a few days ago. The bank refused and the teller said that the Russians are being blacklisted for political reasons? What does that mean?

[beattledog]

 I have no idea.

beattledog

[Bruno]

I have no idea.

beattledog

Can make more short, just use these emoticon : :noidea:

A post for say that you have nothing too say  Are you a politician man ?

[ConnerVT]

Very few local US banks do currency exchange.  Those that do typically only exchange common Western currencies (Canadian, Mexican, Euro).

Getting Russian Rubles is nearly impossible even in large international airports.

The woman in the bank was full of $hit.   

[prince_alfie]

That's weird because the bank claimed that they could exchange for the Chinese yuan? And I thought that currency was harder to find...

[Manny]

The yen is one of the most traded currencies after the dollar.

The answer is in the US very draconian anti money laundering laws, said laws are designed to stop "criminals" exporting money out of the US, in fact, criminals have their routes well established but Uncle Sam is always one step behind. Banks run scared from these regulations and anything that may be perceived as "suspicious" and went undetected, will result in big fines to the bank, so they choose not to trade in "currencies of criminals" (which in practice is any country that does not sing Uncle Sams tune) and if they did they would be forced to file a SAR on you to the IRS.

Rule of thumb is always exchange your money in the country where your currency is stronger, so with US dollars you change them in Russia for a better rate - your bank teller was correct that it is political but she didnt elaborate. The banks themselves dont like those rules.

Take your case full of dollars into a Sverbank, they wont bat an eyelid nor even ask you for ID  Getting said case full of greenbacks out of the US is another matter!

Contrary to local propaganda - America is anything but free!